CELEBRATING AMERICA
As we get ready to celebrate our Independence Day on July 4th, we need to commemorate those who signed the Declaration of Independence, our nation’s “birth certificate.” As they acknowledged: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
But did you know that many of the signers suffered for their actions? They were all found guilty of treason, some were hunted, lost homes and property, fled with their families to avoid capture, and had family members killed. Yet despite the high cost, get this, no signer ever went back on his personal pledge, and America eventually won its freedom!
The stories of the signers inspire us, and America thrived under the five unique principles they set forth in the Declaration:
- There is a Creator, and this Creator provides the moral authority for our founding documents.
- The Creator has given a certain set of inalienable rights to every individual.
- The primary purpose of government is to protect those inalienable rights.
- There is a fixed moral law, “the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”
- Decisions below the level of inalienable rights and fixed morals are to be made with the consent of the governed.
As we remember these five principles from our nation’s founding, let’s celebrate this Independence Day in a way that was recommended by John Adams in 1776: “It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
Devotedly your pastor,
Bill Blanchard